Stokers' Corner

[Hawk]

Hawk: Not sure if this is related to the new server, but I am getting the following error message when trying to link to pics in my Photobucket page :

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image.

Thanks for pointing that out.
An Internet search tells me it's a php.ini setting that needs tweaking. I'll send the info on to the server tech and see if he can fix that.

Speaking of server issues though, do the time stamps work correctly for others? Mine is saying this is posted at 10am when it is the afternoon and I double checked to make sure I was set for the correct time zone.

The move to the new server took us form Pacific time to Central time. A two hour difference.
I think there's a setting in the ACP for this. I'll look into it.
It would help to know the difference in time from the board to your actual time.
The forum time is shown on the main page right under the User Control Panel link.
Mine is showing a 5 hour difference. That's strange as there is only a 1 hour difference between where I live and where the server is.

[Stoker]

Thanks for looking into fixing this, we all appreciate your efforts to keep this place rolling and at full steam for all of us die hard RT fans to hang out.

My board time is showing a 6 hour difference . This may be due to me having my preferences set to PDT, when I am actually in Arizona. AZ does not do the daylight savings time deal, so I am not 100% sure if we are currently the same as PDT or not- I lose track. So it is either 5 or 6 hours off. One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

Thank you again for all that you do here Hawk.

[Blackhawk]

I'm in the central time zone and it's 5 hours off for me.

[Hawk]

My board time is showing a 6 hour difference . This may be due to me having my preferences set to PDT, when I am actually in Arizona. AZ does not do the daylight savings time deal, so I am not 100% sure if we are currently the same as PDT or not- I lose track. So it is either 5 or 6 hours off.

I think you mean DST and not PDT.
You should have your time settings at [UTC - 7] Mountain Standard Time with Summer Time/DST is in effect: ticked at No.
That should give you a 5 hour difference.

Click on image to view full size

One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

Do you mean the View active topics link? I never use that link. I always use the View unread posts link, which will say You have no unread posts if there are no new posts since your last visit.
I'm not sure how that View active topics link is supposed to work. Like I said, I've never used it.

[Hawk]

I'm in the central time zone and it's 5 hours off for me.

Yep. It's 5 hours off for me too. I'm in the Eastern time zone - Georgia, and based on my time settings in the UCP, ( [UTC - 5] Eastern Standard Time ) that would be right for me.
You're actually in the same time zone as the server. It's in Kansas City.

[Hawk]

One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

I just checked this and it's quite possible that it isn't showing up when you click on View active topics because this thread is sticky'd.
Since it stays at the top of the forum, it may not list it in that link.

[Stoker]

OK, thanks for looking into this Hawk. Yes, I have my time set to Pacific Standard Time which is correct in the winter, so right now I should be 5 hours off, the same as everyone else. I have had my browser tab set to "view active topics" for a long time now, I just changed it to "View unread posts" and I see many threads that are active that do not get into the active topics deal, this place is not nearly as dead as I thought it was- .

Just trying to make sure that as many people as possible see this thread, I don't want to build a railroad and not have anybody ride it....

[Hawk]

Just curious; Why do you have your time set for Pacific Standard Time if you're in Arizona?

BTW! The time should be right for everyone now. The clock on the server was off. My time shows correct now.

Also, try the image thing again and let me know if it works. The server tech said he made some changes in the php.ini file.

[Stoker]

There is no option for Arizona time in the board options. When I first signed up it was winter, so we were the same as Pacific time. I now have it set to Mountain and i think I have it so DST does not apply. Not sure though.

Here are the two images showing the map placement of Colorado Springs to test PhotoBucket :

Map shot from MHAR looking straight down. You can see that CS is slightly south of the peak of Pikes Peak:



Google Maps shot showing the same:



When I placed the cities on this map I made an image in a paint program and overlayed map images to get the correct placement. In some cases it was necessary to either move the city slightly or fudge the terrain to make the map playable. Most of the cities are pretty accurate in their location.

Edit to add: The images from PB did work this time , BUT, I got a message saying "images must be a maximum of 800 pixels wide". I know I have posted full screen shots in the past- this thread is full of them, so I am guessing there is some other setting that needs adjusting? I went back and edited the in game shot above - it was 878 pixels wide, so I made it 800 and reposted it and it worked. Still some sort of issue though.

Thanks for getting on this so quickly Hawk.

[Hawk]

There is no option for Arizona time in the board options.

Yes there is. It is Mountain Standard Time - UTC-7, as you have selected.
Did you see that image I posted with the US time zones (in this post - viewtopic.php?p=33350#p33350 ). Arizona is in the Mountain Standard Time zone.

And since Arizona does not recognize Daylight Savings Time, you are right to tick the No box for that.
The board should be showing you the right time now.

Edit to add: The images from PB did work this time , BUT, I got a message saying "images must be a maximum of 800 pixels wide". I know I have posted full screen shots in the past- this thread is full of them, so I am guessing there is some other setting that needs adjusting? I went back and edited the in game shot above - it was 878 pixels wide, so I made it 800 and reposted it and it worked. Still some sort of issue though.

No! There's nothing wrong. Linked to images are limited in size to 800 wide.
If you attach an image to a post, it can be larger and the forum will create a smaller thumbnail, I think about 600 wide. Clicking on that thumbnail will show the full sized image.

[Stoker]

Ahh, I see about the image link size restrictions now Hawk. It has been a while since I posted here, and I see that the full screens I had in previous posts were actually attachments. I understand that AZ is Mountain Time, I think I was looking for the AZ only option in the board when I first signed up as this is an option in some boards. I now have it set correctly as being mountain without DST auto-detection. Thank you again for your help.

[Hawk]

My pleasure!

[Wolverine@MSU]

Back to the scenario..........I played it out in the Robber Baron role and got Gold on Expert with about 10 years to spare. I could have made it a few years sooner, but when I got to where I was the sole company and was paying myself more than $20 million/yr in dividends, I just sat back, ran it on top speed for as many years as it took to get to the $250 M cash level. I employed all the "dirty tactics" available and spent the first several years just building industries and watching the sabatoged competitors go into the tank. Several were liquidated, but some just kept issuing bond after bond, going deeper and deeper into the red and refusing to give it up. Occasionally an upstart rival would try to start a new company, but I would quickly take them over and drive them into the ground. The key in this role is to make sure that your rivals (the AIs) become so poor that they can't start new companies, and when they do you have to take the appropriate measures to bury them.

As for the scenario itself, I really like the concept. It offers lots and lots of replay value and I may try out my luck in another role. The one thing I didn't like was the inability to buy on margin or sell short, both of which are helpful in the Robber Baron role.

I did notice something odd regarding the "auxilliary indistries", two of which are illustrated below. As seen in the screenshots, the Chemical Processor uses the Distillary building and the Mining Supply uses the Brewery building. I also saw instances where logging camps were just houses and other industries didn't correspond to their proper buildings. I though it might be something screwy with my installation of RT3-1.06 at home (where I still get the Fairlie loco showing up twice on the loco list when I go to buy a loco), but it also happens on my install at work (which I only use for testing purposes, and don't really play during work hours ). Has anyone else who has tried this one seen the same thing?

[Stoker]

Thanks for the review Wolverine. I am glad that you were able to crack the Robber Baron Challenge. I disabled margin buying and short selling in this scenario for the simple reason that I had to do something to limit the potential for abuse of the stock market setup in RT3. It sounds like I may have to make the Robber Baron Challenge a bit tougher as it is . I am also able to get Gold on Expert in this challenge but it is hard to gauge what other players will be able to achieve since I know the map so well I figure I have an edge over the first time player so I had to try to use goals that are actually achievable yet hard. I will probably make the Expert level RB challenge much harder and move the current Expert Gold level victory conditions to "Hard" difficulty.

You are correct about the swapped out buildings in this scenario, that is not a mistake, it was a heck of a lot of work. In order to make many of the industries be able to be placed in the mountainous terrain it was either swap out buildings with a smaller footprint or drastically smooth out the terrain, and I opted to take the time to swap out buildings and keep my mountians . The Rice Farms that are swapped with houses and then hand painted with crops are meant to represent Hops that are grown there in the Uncompahgre Valley in real life. There is a special use for "Hops" (Rice) in relation to the Coors challenge which is not complete at this stage. This is after all actually 13 scenarios built on the same map, and not all of them are complete as of yet. I do have the files that will allow these buildings to be the same during gameplay as those pre-placed on this map. The main one where this is necessary is the use of the Brewery building in lieu of the giant "Warehouse" building which is near impossible to place on this map where you might actually want to put one of the factory/warehouses. I will release this along with a language file that changes industry/cargo names to appear as I intended them . Soldiers are changed to Workers , Weapons are changed to Equipment , Rice is changed to Hops for example. Edit to add: One I keep forgetting is the use of Dye to represent "Hides". This is why you see the Dye"Farms" swapped with the bakery building in some cities.

This is giving me some motivation to get busy with fixing some known issues and finalizing this scenario in the near future. Thanks again for playing through this complex and not yet complete scenario Wolverine. I am open to suggestions for goals and medal conditions regarding some of the playable factions, so please post anything you think might be a good addition. The ones I have "penciled in" but not completed are for the Burlington & Missouri medal conditions to be passenger speed related and Coors being Beer production related (duh ).

Keep your pressure up and your sand dry, you will need it in them thar hills ,
Happy Railroading, Stoker

[Wolverine@MSU]

I'm playing as D&RGW now. I'll let you know if I run into any glitches.